Women who work outside the home during pregnancy are almost five times more likely to develop a dangerous form of high blood pressure which threatens both mother and foetus.
Working also tends to push up average blood pressures in these women, according to a new study.
Prof John Higgins, of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at University College Cork, and colleagues studied 933 women who attended the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin. The women were divided into three groups, those working out of the home, those working at home and those who took leave from work. The findings were published this week in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The study established that women who continued working had the highest blood pressure readings of the three groups in mid pregnancy. The research also showed a heightened risk of pre-eclampsia, a dangerous abnormally high blood pressure which can lead to swelling and blood poisoning. Women working outside the home were almost five times as likely to suffer from pre-eclampsia than those who didn't.
